Let Mother Nature be your garden scheduler

Do you curse when rain or wind or ungodly temps or even snow thwart your gardening plans? Ever dream of an epic garden day all week, only to be washed out on Saturday?

Face it, Mother Nature makes up your garden calendar and assigns you shifts and they don’t always jibe with your plans. So, what do you do when you are itching to garden, but it’s raining cats and dogs?

Have panoramic photos of your garden on hand to help you identify “areas of opportunity.”

Have photos on hand of your garden and study and take notes. When you’re standing in the thick of things, surrounded by plants, it’s tough to be objective about what needs work. A photo objectifies it, like you are looking at someone else’s garden. Like our homes, we grow used to the cracks and saggy floors and chipped paint. Photos help with seeing what needs work.

When it’s raining outside, go swim in the plants at the nursery. Fall in love with some new, like these ‘Salmon Improved’ Pelargoniums.

Go to your local nursery or garden center. There’s something fun about plant shopping in the rain, especially if there’s a greenhouse and you can be undercover. Treat yourself to a coffee, as well. Make a date with the plants.

Make a to-do list. Gardening is a passionate activity for us plantheads and should be joyously casual, but organization helps get the mundane tasks out of the way quickly and lets you get on to the fun.

Tackle indoor chores. Dig into that one nagging project that will then be off your mind on the days you can be outside.

Give your indoor plants a little love when you can’t be outside. How about thinning out your ambitious terrarium?

Give some love to your indoor plants. The houseplants sometimes take a back seat during the growing season, so pamper them a little. This is their big growing season, with all the extra light, so they deserve attention, as well. Dust leaves, trim dead foliage, water, fertilize and make them look pretty.

Think of one thing that has always intrigued but mystified you in the garden and become a mini-expert. Get on Google for a while and research away. Never understood Ph? Unsure about what makes perfect turfgrass? Curious about orchids? Educate yourself.